Marvelous Wonders: CK2’s Best Great Works

Crusader Kings II is a historical grand strategy by Paradox. You rule an ancient empire, working to make your country the greatest in the known world. As you pursue this goal, you’ll amass a vast fortune, which can be spent on Great Works that provide incredible benefits. To help you pick, we’ve put together a list of CK2’s best Great Works.

Magnificent Gardens

This Great Work is one of our favorites because it has a unique feature known as The Fountain of Youth. Once every ten years, your character can drink from it to shave two years off their age. You’ll need to make sure that Supernatural events are turned on for this to work. Also, be sure not to be a Lunatic. Drinking from the fountain as a Lunatic will actually age you by two years!

Great Walls

Building a Great Wall in your country is one of the best defensive moves you can make. The base structure adds 0.25 to your Fort Level and 0.1 to your prestige and increases each time you upgrade. The Unique Features possess some of the best defensive buffs in the game. As an example, Studded Bastions add an additional 200 Archers and increases your Siege Defense by 5%. Strategic Exclaves boosts your Local Tax Modifier by 5% and increases your City Vassal Opinion by three.

Royal Palace

Building a Royal Palace in your country is a great way to boost prestige. At each stage, you increase your monthly prestige by 0.1. It also increases your retinue size by 250. The unique features of the Royal Palace are all about reputation as well. The Fancy Throne Room, Golden Throne, and Automata Throne all boost your prestige. Other unique features increase different types of opinions and ratings.

Great Library

Your government can’t be nomadic, and you must have a reformed religion to build a Great Library. However, the bonus to cultural technology points and monthly prestige is more than worth it. Additionally, every single Unique Feature of the Great Library increases the spread rates of Culture, Economy, or Military Technology.

Grand University

There are a lot of prerequisites to meet before you can build the Grand University. If you check all of the boxes, you’ll be able to construct a Great Work that dramatically increases the rate at which you acquire various technology points. Additionally, the Grand University’s Unique Features further increase your technology point gains. Unique Features also give you plus one to attributes like Diplomacy, Martial, Stewardship, Intrigue, and Learning.

Great Harbor

Only coastal countries can pursue the Great Harbor, but if you border a body of water, this Great Work is a must. At each stage of construction, you’ll get a 2.5% boost to your Local Tax Modifier, a 25-point increase to your Trade value, and 0.1 to prestige. Additional Unique Features boost these stats more, while also increasing your supply limit and other stats.

What’s Next?

Once you’ve built CK2’s best Great Works, don’t forget that there is so much more to do in this 4X Strategy masterpiece. Make sure to check out all of our guides if you want more tips!